Biography

Mentioned in 18570125CharlesSumner_WHS: "Mr Hopkins, who writes the enclosed letter, is a faithful Republican, of great influence & a leading member of the Legislature."

"Son of John & Lydia (Thompson) Hopkins

Married Sarah Bennett in Charleston, SC 25 June 1835 (died 3 May 1838)
A son, William Swinton Bennett Hopkins, was born in Charleston, SC 1836

Married Charlotte Allen 18 November 1841

Graduated from Dartmouth College in 1830
Studied at Andover Theological Seminary in 1833
Graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1834 and ordained as a Presbyterian minister

Minister at Beech Island, SC 1835-1837
Minister at Troy, NY 1837-1841

Wrote "The Objections to African Colonization Stated and Answered" (April Issue, The Bibilical Repository & Theological Review) 1833
Wrote "The Family, a Religious Institution, or Heaven Its Model" (Troy NY by Elias Gates) 1840

After moving to Northampton in 1841:
President of the Connecticut River Railroad,
Station master Underground Railroad stop at 101 King Street, 
Elected State representative in 1848,
Member of the Free Soil Party 1848-1852,
Advocated for siting a Lunatic Asylum in Northampton in 1851,
Delegate to the 1856 Republican National Convention,
Delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago (nominated Abraham Lincoln as president)

Hopkins Mountain in Essex County, NY (Adirondacks) was named after Erastus who hiked in the area. He suggested the name of Resagonia (means saw teeth) for the mountain in the same area known as Sawteeth.

His house at 101 King Street has been demolished.
 
 
Family links: 
 Parents:
  John Hopkins (1770 - 1842)
  Lydia Thompson Hopkins (1773 - 1842)
 
 Spouses:
  Sarah H. Bennett Hopkins (1810 - 1838)
  Charlotte Frelinghuysen Allen Hopkins (1819 - 1899)
 
 Children:
  William Swinton Bennett Hopkins (1836 - 1900)*
  Sarah Ann Hopkins (1842 - 1930)*
  Maria Hopkins (1843 - 1843)*
  William Allen Hopkins (1845 - 1848)*
  Caroline Dwight Hopkins (1846 - 1864)*
  Mary Annette Hopkins Emerson (1848 - 1897)*
  Charlotte Hopkins (1849 - 1856)*
  Johnnie Hopkins (1850 - 1856)*
 
 Siblings:
  Sarah Ann Wait Hopkins Wheeler (1790 - 1848)*
  Samuel Hopkins (1808 - 1886)*
  Erastus Hopkins (1810 - 1872)
  George Hopkins (1813 - 1830)*
 
*Calculated relationship"